What is the Office of Financial Research (OFR)?

The term 'Office of Financial Research (OFR)' is included in the Economics edition of the Financial Dictionary. Get yours now on amazon in ebook or paperback format. Read more here...

OFR is an abbreviation and stands for the Office of Financial Research. This government organization that has its headquarter in the Treasury Building works to supply information in support of the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

The OFR strives to encourage financial stability throughout the United States. They do this by scanning throughout the American financial system in order to find, measure, and consider risks. They also engage in gathering critical research and then compile and homogenize the financial data so that it can be easily referenced, understood, and compared.

The Office of Financial Research says about itself that its job revolves around illuminating the darkest parts of the financial system. As they do this, they are looking to see where the risks to the system are heading. They then determine the level of threat such risks pose to the system and the economy. Finally, they deliver financial analysis, data, and insight on these threats along with an available policy tools’ evaluation in order to effectively address and diffuse the threats.

Congress created this Office of Financial Research back in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. They established this new organization in order to provide material support to the all important new super regulatory entity the Financial Stability Oversight Council.

The OFR was also to deliver useful information on the risks to the system to the member organizations of the Council as well as to any interested and concerned members of the public. The Director of the OFR is both appointed at the discretion of the President and must be confirmed by a majority vote of the Senate. In 2016, this Director was Richard Berner. The group was created to work around two offices of a Data Center and a Research and Analysis Center.

The mission of the Office of Financial Research is to encourage American financial system stability via providing high quality financial standards, data, and analysis of the information on behalf of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, its various member organizations, and the general public. To this effect, they maintain the vision of a financial system that is efficient, effective, stable, and transparent.

Every year, the Office of Financial Research produces several publications. Two of these that have become annual productions are the Annual Report to Congress on Human Capital Planning and the Annual Report to Congress. The Dodd-Frank Act itself requires that the OFR produces, compiles, and presents this general annual report once a year before Congress.

Every general annual report must include a complete analysis of the various threats to the American financial system and overall stability, the progress in their endeavors to meet the mission of the OFR, and the critical discoveries regarding threats from their research and analyzing of the whole United States’ financial system.

The 2015 Office of Financial Research Annual Report to Congress is the fourth such yearly report since the office became established under the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act. This particular report reviewed and analyzed the possible threats to American financial stability, reported on their important discoveries of risk, detailed their progress in meeting the OFR overall mission, and laid out the agenda of The Office for 2016.

The 2015 report stated that the various threats to United States’ financial stability increased slightly from the prior year’s report. They still consider the risks to be in the moderate to medium range. They did not change their threat assessment after the Federal Reserve FOMC raised the short term interest rates. A major portion of the 2016 agenda for the OFR is to affect a new programmatic approach in their work. They are striving to concentrate their initial efforts on the core areas of eight programs.

The term 'Office of Financial Research (OFR)' is included in the Economics edition of the Financial Dictionary. You can get your copy on amazon in Kindle or Paperback version. See more details here.